Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Before we could be sure we had a troop I had to contact the families and find another parent to volunteer for our Leadership Team. In order to do this I needed to have a clear idea of how I wanted to set up our troop and how to approach the families with what Girl Scouts and our troop in particular was all about.

I sent the following email to my families as an introduction to myself and to our troop as well as asking for volunteers. I have deleted some information for privacy reasons.

Hello Daisy Parents,

My name is Kelly Driver and I am excited to be sending you this email. I have a daughter, Sydney, who is a first grader at ____________ and several months ago she came to me and told me she wanted to join Girl Scouts; perhaps there was a similar scene in your house. After doing some research I registered both of us with Girl Scouts and I started the process to become a Girl Scout Leader. I completed all of the training a few weeks ago and received an email yesterday that I had been approved by council and assigned a troop. You and your girls have been assigned to this troop.

I am in the planning stages for setting up a Parent/Guardian meeting as well as securing a location to have the meetings with the girls. Before we begin I wanted to share with you all some information that will be helpful in deciding if this troop will work for you and your girls.

1. LEADERSHIP TEAM

At this time I am the only Leader on the Leadership Team for this troop. We have 11 girls placed in this troop which means that we need at least one other appointed volunteer (must be female) who has gone through the training to become a Leader. Preferably we should have two (for a total of three) in case a member of the Leadership Team cannot make a meeting due to illness or some other reason.

To become a member of the Leadership Team you must pass a background check, register as a Girl Scout Member ($15.00 fee), complete Girl Scouting 101 instruction video, complete Safety Essentials online course, and watch the Getting Started introduction video. After completing all of these online instructional components I believe you have up to 6 months to complete the training by attending the 2-hour face-to-face course, Volunteer Essentials. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Leadership Team please let me know ASAP and visit http://gsoh.org/volunteers/new-volunteer-application-process/.

Until another member of the Leadership Team is trained and approved we are unable to meet with the girls without their parents being present.

2. TROOP MEETING TIME AND PLACE

Right now I am planning on having meetings twice a month, on "day" from either "time" or "time" at "location". I am hoping to hear back from "location" within the next few days.

The times that I have selected are based on the fact that we have 6 and 7 year-olds. One hour is probably long enough for them and I didn't want to have it any later because I know we all have dinner, homework, baths and bedtime to deal with in the evenings.

I am hoping to have our first meeting with the girls on November 21st. This of course is dependent on whether we have another member of the Leadership Team.

3. FINANCIAL COMMITMENT

The final bit of information involves the "how much?" factor. I know in our house this is usually the first thing that gets discussed when embarking on a new commitment. To start off, each girl will need the official Daisy uniform, the Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, and the "Welcome to the Daisy Garden" Journey book.

A great way to get these required items is with the Daisy Starter Kit. The starter kit includes the Daisy Girl's Guide to Girl Scouting, American Flag Patch, Official Girl Scout Daisy Membership Pin, WAGGGS Official Pin and Insignia Tab ($30.50 with a free Girl Scout Canvas Drawstring Bag). The official Daisy uniform is either a tunic ($14.50) or vest ($16.25) and white shirt, the Journey Book is also required ($7.00) and the Council Id Badge set ($4.00). Once we have a troop number you will also need number patches ($1.25 ea). These can all be purchased for around $56.00 at the Girls Scouts of Ohio's Heartland Council Store located at 1700 WaterMark Dr., Columbus, OH or online at http://www.girlscoutshop.com/s.nl/sc.21/category.242/.f. (NOTE: GSOH does provide Financial Assistance if needed. Information can be found at http://gsoh.org/for-girls/financial-assistance/)

In addition to the cost of the uniform and required books, we are a brand new start up troop and will need a start-up fund to cover the costs of troop outings, troop badges, copy fees and other expenses. I was hoping each family could contribute $20.00 as well as help out with signing up to contribute craft supplies and snacks. As we progress we can earn additional funds with the Product Sale and the Cookie Sale which brings me to my next topic...

4. COOKIE SALES

My daughter and I did not join Girl Scouts because we were excited about selling cookies. We joined Girl Scouts because we wanted to do something fun together, learn about the outdoors and have wonderful learning opportunities and adventures with other girls her age. I have heard from a lot of parents whose daughter joined Girl Scouts only to quit because the pressure to sell cookies was overwhelming. That will NOT be the case in this troop! The Cookie Sale is an important part of the Girl Scout experience. It teaches the girls how to run a business, financial responsibility and teamwork. It also helps to fund the troop and provide income to pay for some of the things that were listed above. It will not, however, define this troop.

I plan to encourage the girls to do their best when it comes to the Cookie Sale (and other product sales) but I will not be badgering them (or you) as if it were the most important project of the year.

Because of my very strong feelings about this I want you to keep in mind that our troop bank account may not be as large as others, which means there may be more of a financial commitment on the part of the individual family. I will do my very best to keep costs down for everyone.

I apologize for the length of this email but I wanted to make sure that we are all on the same page before starting this exciting adventure with our girls. I have attached the Girl Membership form, the Adult Membership form and a Health History Form to this email. If you have not already registered your daughter as a girl scout member you can either fill out this form and bring $15 dollars to the Parent/Guardian meeting or you can register online at CORA. The Adult Membership form is if you would like to become part of the Leadership Team or just a parent volunteer. Again you can either fill out the form and bring $15 to the meeting or register online. The Health History Form MUST BE filled out and brought to the Parent/Guardian meeting.

I am still looking for a location to hold the Parent/Guardian meeting. I am hoping to have it within the next two weeks. Before scheduling anything and stressing myself out, there are a few things I need to find out first...

1. Is anyone interested in completing the training to be a part of the Leadership Team?

2. If for any reason you have decided not to join or would like to be placed in another troop, please let me know so Council can update the placement list!

3. Are you or your daughter already registered as a Girl Scout Member?

Once I have heard back from everyone with the answers to these three questions, I will go ahead and schedule the Parent/Guardian meeting so that we can get started with the girls.

I look forward to embarking on this adventure with you all.

I received positive feedback on the email and a parent stepped-up to volunteer for the Leadership Team. We scheduled our family meeting and started work on the agenda and talking points for the meeting.

Here is the agenda I created for the meeting:

2013-2014 Girl Scout Daisies

Parent/Guardian Meeting Agenda

Sign in and receive parent folders

Introduce Leadership Team

Family Introductions

Troop Calendar:

Meeting day, time and place.

First Girl meeting

Outings

What will we do at meetings?

Ceremonies

Troop Rules

Uniforms

Books

Weekly Dues

- Communication with families

Email or phone?

Facebook

Parent Responsibilities

Make sure girls are at the meetings on time.

Make sure girls are picked up on time.

No siblings allowed at the meetings.

Supplies

Financial Commitments

Items needed for the first meeting with the girls.

Items needed around the first of the year.

Cookie Sale

Volunteers

Questions

- Form collection

The most important part of the meeting for me was my "script". I spent a lot of time on it so that I wouldn't forget anything. I wanted to make sure that the families understood what I was about and how I wanted to make their Girl Scout experience a good one.Here is my script for the family meeting:

PARENT MEETING TALKING POINTS

-Welcome! Please sign in and take a folder. Look through the folder as we wait for everyone to arrive.

-Hello! I’m so glad that everyone could make it. I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. My name is Kelly Driver and I am a stay-at-home and home-based travel agent but more importantly I am the mom to Sydney. Sydney is a first grader at _________ and she is so excited to start her adventure with Girl Scouts. The other member of the Leadership Team is: ____________. Without their willingness to step up and volunteer we wouldn’t even be here tonight.

**CO-LEADER INTRODUCE THEMSELVES**

Does anyone have experience with Girl Scouts? Well, I am completely new at this so we will be learning together.

I am really excited to be part of the Leadership Team for this troop. We are going to have so much fun this year with the girls. My main goal is not only to help them learn all the great things that Girl Scouts provide but to make sure that they have fun doing it.

Let’s go around the room and introduce ourselves. Tell us your name, your daughter’s name, what school she attends and what you are hoping to get out of this experience.

**FAMILY INTRODUCTIONS**

-Okay, great! Well, it is great to meet you all and I can’t wait to meet the girls.

TROOP CALENDAR

Let’s move on to a little bit about how our Troop Calendar is going to look. Right now I am planning on having meetings twice a month, from ________ at __________in the Media Center.

I am hoping to have our first meeting with the girls on November 21st.

In addition to the two meetings a month I would love to have some outings throughout the year but this will depend on topics we are covering and availability of volunteers.

As far as the actual meetings I would like to have the girls earn all of the petal badges by the end of the year. Has anyone already purchased any of the materials, primarily the Journey book “Welcome to the Daisy Garden”?

I found out at some training over the weekend that the first Journey, “Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden” piggy-backs the petal badge program so I would love to start with that so that the girls will get all of their petals as well as complete at least one journey. Since we are starting late in the year we may only have time for one Journey, however, the girls are able to work on things at home as well to complete additional Journeys.

I would love to have an Investiture ceremony in December or January, which welcomes new members into the Girl Scout family for the first time. Girls will receive their Daisy Girl Scout pin at this time so hold them back and give to me once you get them. They are included in the Daisy Uniform Starter Kit.

I would like to have a second ceremony in the middle of the year to present the girls with badges and awards that they have earned, finishing the year with a Bridging Ceremony for the girls that will go on to be 2nd grade Brownies.

TROOP RULES

Next up are some of the rules I would like to establish within the troop.

Each girl must wear her official Daisy uniform to all meetings and outings. The wearing of uniforms unites girls as Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts at each level have one official uniform item for the display of official pins and awards. For Daisies it is the tunic or vest with a white shirt underneath.

There are required books as well. The first is The Daisy Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting. Each girl should have her own copy of this book. The next book is a Journey Book. For Daisies there are three different journey’s that they can participate in: “Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden”, “Between Earth and Sky” and “5 Flowers, 4 Stories, 3 Cheers for Animals!”. For our first (and possibly only) Journey I thought that the “Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden” would be perfect since it piggy-backs with the petal badges. The girls will need to bring their books to every meeting.

Financial responsibility is a big part of Girl Scouts so in order to instill some of that in the girls I am asking that each girl bring $.25 to each meeting for dues. They will get a sense of contributing to the troop as well as getting a voice in how the money is spent.

COMMUNICATION WITH FAMILIES

I tend to use email a lot to communicate with friends, clients, etc. Therefore, the Leadership Team will communicate with parents primarily via email unless that doesn’t work for you and you would prefer to be contacted by phone call.

I also plan on creating a secure, invitation only, private Facebook group to be used as a way to get information to families. Is everyone on Facebook? If not, it isn’t a big deal. Those of you that are let me know and when I have it set up I’ll send you an invitation.

PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES

From you guys I’m asking that you make sure the girls arrive to the meetings on time and are picked up on time. I also ask that there be no siblings at the meetings. If it is an outing, then siblings can tagalong as long as the parents are also accompanying the troop.

Like I said in my initial email to you all, we are a start-up troop, therefore I’m going to have some sign up sheets and hope that everyone will be able to contribute craft supplies or first aid kit supplies for the troop.

Since our time during the meeting is limited and the time of the meeting is before dinner I have opted to not have a snack time during our meeting.

Again, because we are starting so late in the year there may be some “homework” involved so that the girls can earn the badges that they want. They will need your help with this. I will also provide any information and instructions that you will need in order to help them achieve their goals and badges.

FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS

There are certain items that the girls will need for the first meeting. They are:

- Official Daisy uniform, either a tunic ($14.50) or vest ($16.25) and white shirt

- “Welcome to the Daisy Flower Garden” Journey Book ($7.00)

- Council Id Badge set ($4.00)

Troop Number patches ($1.25 ea.- there could be 3 or 4 needed so between $3.75 and $5.00)

and the Troop Dues of $20.00 for start-up expenses, which I mentioned in the email.

By the first of the year each girl will need the following badges:

- Daisy Petal Set ($6.75)

- Daisy: Welcome to the Daisy Garden Award Patch Set ($5.00) these could maybe paid for with troop funds.

- Financial Literacy Leaves. There are two badges at $1.50 each and could be paid for with troop funds.

Girl Scouts does provide Financial Assistance and forms can be found online.

COOKIE SALE

As I mentioned in my initial email, as we progress we can earn additional funds for the troop with the Product Sale and the Cookie Sale.

Now I want to let you know that my daughter and I did not join Girl Scouts because we were excited about selling cookies. We joined Girl Scouts because we wanted to do something fun together, learn about the outdoors and have wonderful learning opportunities and adventures with other girls her age. I have heard from a lot of parents whose daughter joined Girl Scouts only to quit because the pressure to sell cookies was overwhelming. That will NOT be the case in this troop! The Cookie Sale is an important part of the Girl Scout experience. It teaches the girls how to run a business, financial responsibility and teamwork. It also helps to fund the troop and provide income to pay for some of the things that were listed above. It will not, however, define this troop.

I plan to encourage the girls to do their best when it comes to the Cookie Sale (and other product sales) but I will not be badgering them (or you) as if it were the most important project of the year.

Because of my very strong feelings about this I want you to keep in mind that our troop bank account may not be as large as others, which means there may be more of a financial commitment on the part of the individual family. I will do my very best to keep costs down for everyone.

VOLUNTEERS

We are only having this meeting because a parent has kindly agreed to be part of our Leadership Team. So thank you very much.

We are always in need of Parent Volunteers. To become a parent volunteer you must pass a background check, register as a Girl Scout Member ($15.00 fee), complete Girl Scouting 101 instruction video, complete Safety Essentials online course, and watch the Getting Started introduction video. Let me know if you can become a parent volunteer and I can help guide you on what to do. My husband has generously volunteered to be our troop bookkeeper. Volunteers are needed to help at meetings, to accompany us on outings, etc. EVERY Parent Volunteer must complete the things I listed above.

QUESTIONS

Does anyone have any questions, comments, concerns?

FOLDER/FORM COLLECTION

The folder that you received when you entered is your daughter’s Troop/Home folder. Some of you may be familiar with this idea from school. This folder must come with them to every meeting. It is where I will put handouts, flyers, and permission forms that need to go home. It is also where you will put any notes, forms, etc. that you need to return to me.

I’ll now collect the Health History forms and any registration forms.

The meeting was a huge success! All the parents were on the same page and were so relieved about not being pressured to sell cookies. I couldn't wait to meet the girls.

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ABOUT ME

For as long as I can remember I have been a creative soul. I was always drawing or coloring as a child and as a teenager I started scrapbooking. Photos from school events, newspaper clipping, mementos, and other assorted stuff. I was a designer on my high school yearbook staff and an illustrator for the high school newspaper.

When I went to college, my plan was to be a journalist or broadcaster. I took an entry level graphic design course and my major was signed. Technically, I was an Art major with a concentration in Graphic Design and I minored in both Advertising and Broadcast and Cinematic Arts.

As fate would have it I ended up in a career in Broadcasting (which was my first love) however my love of art is always with me.

As an adult my one major creative outlet has been scrapbooking. I love it! It is a way for me to work creatively with my hands and preserve precious memories for my family. I have made so many friends through scrapbooking and have over 20 completed books. It is a never-ending process to scrap our lives, but I’m making headway and hope that I never catch up.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Crafty Chick:

That's me!

Prince Charming:

My dear husband, Tom, who I married in 2003 and am still madly in love with.